Graham Lambert and Stephen Holt had a friendship from their schooling days. The musicians recruited drummer Craig Gill, and they formed Inspiral Carpets in 1983, originally as a garage rock and punk inspired band, with keyboardist Glenn Chesworth and bassist Tony Feeley.[1] In 1987, following the departures of Chesworth and Feeley, the line-up included first Mark Hughes, then Dave Swift on bass and organist Clint Boon (whose Ashton-under-Lyne studio the band had been using for rehearsals).[2] The band released two albums worth of demos in the 1980s, Waiting for Ours and Songs of Shallow Intensity, including songs that would later be re-recorded.[1]

They came to prominence, alongside bands like The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays, in the 'Madchester' scene of the late 1980s. After a flexi-disc featuring Garage Full of Flowers given free with Manchester's Debris magazine in 1987, followed by the Cow cassette, their first release proper, the 1988 PlanecrashEP on the Playtime label received much airplay from Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who asked the band to record a session for his show.[1] At the time of their initial success, the band earned some notoriety for their squiggly-eyed cow 'Cool as Fuck' T-shirts when a student at Oxford Polytechnic was prosecuted on obscenity charges for wearing one.[citation needed] They reworked their single "Find Out Why" as the theme tune to the 8:15 from Manchester.

As their popularity grew, Playtime's distributor Red Rhino Records went bust, leading the band to form their own label, Cow Records in March 1989, the labels' first release being the Trainsurfing EP.[1] but with half of the first album Life written, Holt and Swift departed and formed The Rainkings, The Inspirals recruited Too Much Texas singer Tom Hingley and Martin "Bungle" Walsh of The Next Step to replace them.[1] Guitarist Graham Lambert states in an interview on the Cool As box set that the band had tried numerous bass players before settling on Martyn Walsh, who was their thirteenth bass player. After a handful of singles on their own label, the last of which, "Move", came close to the UK top 40, they signed a deal with Mute Records, and immediately had their first top 40 chart success in the UK with "This Is How It Feels", which is a song about unemployment and touches on themes of domestic violence. The single reached No. 14 in the singles chart, and debut album Life reached No. 2 in the album chart, both in 1990.[1]

The following year's The Beast Inside was less well received by critics,[2] but still achieved a top 5 album chart placing. The "Caravan" and "Please be Cruel" singles only reached No. 30 and No. 50 respectively, and an attempt to crack the American market largely failed.[1] The band did, however, gain a strong following in Portugal, Germany, and Argentina, with the band's 1992 album Revenge of the Goldfish becoming their most successful in those countries.[1] The album peaked at number 17 in the UK, and spawned four UK hit singles. The next album, Devil Hopping (1994) reached number 10 in the album chart, with "Saturn 5" and "I Want You" giving them top 20 hits, from that LP. (The latter's single version featured Mark E. Smith).[1] Next single "Uniform" stalled at No. 51 and in 1995, after the release of a Singles collection, the band were dropped by Mute, and split up soon after.[1]

They re-formed in 2003, releasing a new single "Come Back Tomorrow" (recorded in 1995), a couple of sold-out tours and a number of new compilation records, most notably the Cool As box set. They have toured sporadically since, reuniting yet again in 2007 to tour in support of an iTunes only compilation of their b-sides and rarities. They played a tour in 2008 under the banner "Return of the Cow", announcing that their own Cow Records label was to be revived.

Much to the surprise of the other four members in February 2011, Tom Hingley announced on Twitter that the Inspirals had split up. Clint Boon responded "Inspiral Carpets have not split up. It appears that one member has chosen to leave".[3] In August 2011 they announced a reunion with original singer Stephen Holt. Their website states "Inspirals will be recording their first material in 15 years coupled with concerts in South America & Greece".[4] The band recorded 'You're So Good For Me/Head for the Sun' for Record Store Day which was released, sold and deleted on 7' single on Saturday 21 April 2012. The accompanying video for the main track was shot at a live concert in Buenos Aires in November 2011.

In support of the single the band toured the UK in March 2012 for the first time with Holt for 24 years. In May the band were special guests on the Happy Mondays tour which was their first tour together with their original line up for 24 years.

Throughout 2012 the band continued to play live at several festivals over the summer culminating with a live performance at Old Trafford cricket ground on Monday 10 September during the England versus South Africa T/20 cricket match.

In April 2014 in conjunction with Record Store Day 2014 Dung 4 a previous cassette only demo from 1987 was issued on vinyl and CD with an earlier tape 'Cow Demo' added as a free 7-inch with the vinyl version.

Uncut called the album the whole package is a fine summation of the Inspirals enduring appeal.

Also in 2014 the band announce the release of Inspiral Carpets on Cherry Red Records. Their first album in 20 years due for released on Monday 20 October, Inspiral Carpets will contain two of their past three singles You're So Good For Me & Spitfire plus 10 new tracks. The album also includes Let You Down co-written and featuring punk poet John Cooper-Clarke.

Interviewed in Record Collector Keyboard player Clint Boon called the album Diverse, A couple (of the songs) have an REM flavor, one nods to the 50s, two to Joy Division, several the Doors, one Northern soul, two The Beach Boys.

After several dates Europe over the summer the band will play 12 UK dates in December 2014 in support of the album's release.